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Stan and I went up to Rehoboth Beach last weekend to join up with friends from here at the beach house. Josh didn't make his famous cinnamon rolls but everything else was great. Saturday was really nice weather-wise, and I think Stan enjoyed his first time at the beach in a few years. It probably helped that there were more low-cut swimsuits there than he'd ever seen before.

Saturday night was dinner time at the house, with all of us contributing. I made a little frozen pie that went well, and of course had made cookies for the weekend (chocolate with peanut butter chips -- contrary to what Ethan said, people other than me actually ate them). After a quick disco nap we headed out and found a new club...in the basement of a church. I'm all for that, but the music was bad and the crowd was mixed...there seemed to be a few elderly straight folks who's wandered in not realizing what they were finding. We ended up at a dance club later and Stan had a little more to drink than I've seen him have before.

Sunday was a lazy morning and everyone had different ideas about what to do. I took Stan downtown and onto the boardwalk to stare at the straight people, and we headed home mid-afternoon. A good weekend was had by all.

Also, I have now seen The X-Files: I Want to Believe twice.

Labels: Friends, Movies, Travel

Have you ever driven your car to work, then forgotten that you drove and taken the subway home, then gone out to drive somewhere in the evening, only to remember that your car is back at work?

Don't worry, I didn't do that. But it occurred to me today how much that would suck.

It also occurred to me yesterday that going running for 5 miles during the hottest part of the day, without carrying water with you, is a dumb thing to do. Sadly, that did not occur to me until after I'd done exactly that.

Stan and I went to see Kung Fu Panda last night. Not only did I really like it, I also had Stan with me to clue explain some of the points that only Chinese-speaking people would get.

And also, we had pancakes for dinner.

Labels: Friends, Movies, Running

OK, finally, a little bit about the last stop on my trip: HONG KONG!!

Let me just say first that I really, really like Hong Kong, though as with the other cities, that may be due to the nice people I know there. Still, as I wrote the day I arrived, I felt very comfortable there, perhaps more so than in other cities, though that could be because I was staying in a familiar place.

I got to spend time with Tony and Max every day I was there and I am so happy for that. They are wonderful individuals and a wonderful couple as well. They make being gay in HK look easy, and I know that they have been very good for each other.

Max and I have been chatting on Facebook for months, starting soon after they started dating (actually, I had seen a pic of Max in one of Tony's photos and sent Tony a message asking about that really cute guy...little did I know they were starting to go out at the time). He's been a charmer online and that's because he's a charming guy in person. He went out of his way to make sure I was having a good time and he thought of sweet little details to make my trip a great one...thank you, honey!!

Both of them spent pretty much all their free time with me for 3 days, something I would not have asked anyone to do but which they offered and wanted to do. I tried to make sure they had some "alone time" in there as well. They took me to some cool restaurants they enjoy, brought me to a sex shop where the owner is hitting on Max, and took me to see some very cool sights along the harbor, as well as to a night market. I got to see parts of Hong Kong I hadn't seen before, and also bought some very fun underwear, so it was a great trip.

Monday morning I decided to be smart and go visit City University of Hong Kong because that's where Tony goes, and also, Stan had told me he did his semester abroad in college at CUHK. I took some photos and sent them to Stan, who didn't recognize them. I of course berated him for not recognizing his university. Only after returning to the US did I discover that Stan went to Chinese University of Hong Kong...the other CUHK. Um, my bad.

I was there for a holiday, "Handover Day" or something like that. It's the day Hong Kong went from British control back to Chinese control. They're not really big on celebrating that, but Beijing kinda makes them have fireworks and such.

Even though 4 countries in 3 weeks is a lot, and even though I was getting tired of hotels, I was very sorry to leave. I had a great time in Hong Kong and really owe Max and Tony a big thank you. I didn't see my other HK friends on this trip because I knew I'd only be there a short time and I wanted to stay flexible since they were making time for me. But NEXT time, the other boys need to watch out!

Labels: Friends, Travel

Work-wise, Singapore was a great opportunity for me. I met with government officials not only from there but also from other countries at their embassies. I also had a chance to visit a local university, which was very useful for a number of reasons, to be explained in a future post.

And I like Singapore. It's a city where I feel comfortable (the heat notwithstanding) and I've found people there to be pretty friendly. I also developed an affection for durian ice cream, though upon trying durian juice (and throwing half of it away) I'm pretty sure I won't be trying the fruit itself any time soon.

I did a bit of shopping in Singapore, met some very cool new people (hi Jonathan! hi Vic!), and generally had a good time, much of that due to DanielHenry, who was in town on a buying trip for work the first 4 days I was there.



We hung out together Sunday and Tuesday nights, and had lunch Wednesday before he returned to KL. It was great to finally get to talk with him face-to-face...he's a sweetheart and I'm glad I know him. And he was a big help to me, since the friend I was supposed to meet up with Sunday night told me, when I called him after arriving, "I have a wedding dinner to go to tonight."

This was the start of something that bugged me, and it almost left me with a bad taste of Singapore in my mouth, until I realized how to get over it. I've known this friend for a few years, though we only met in person when I first visited SG 2 years ago. He has said things to me that make me think I'm an important person in his life, and we made some specific plans for this visit, but when I showed up that was all changed with no warning. Part of that was due to work, which I understand but which also would have been nice to know. Since we had (I thought) such a close relationship, I had not made plans with other SG friends (or in most cases, had not even let them know I was coming) because I wanted to have the flexibility to work around my friend's schedule. What i didn't realize was, I didn't really fit into his schedule...even when he had time off, and wanted to go out, it was in a group rather than one-on-one (and I had some things to discuss with him privately, something I'd told him the day I arrived).

What bugged me wasn't so much that he didn't have time for me -- I don't expect people to rearrange their lives just because I'm flying into town -- but instead, it's that he told me one thing in advance, and then another when I arrived, and had I known how unavailable he would be, I would have made other plans. Even during the week he'd say "we'll do this, this, and this," but when the time for "this" came along, suddenly everything changed. I think the point where it really got to me was the night I wa supposed to go out with him and his friends after work and he called me and said "they're all still at work, no one can go out, so I guess we won't go." Um, I could still go out...but he didn't seem interested in spending any one-on-one time. I got the sense that he was saying what he thought I wanted to hear, and then reality was intruding at the last minute. Of course, all I wanted to hear was the truth, not false promises.

I try to be very careful what I say to people online because I know there's a good chance I'll be seeing these people in person someday (when you consider how many people around the world I've met in person because of their blogs, it's a little scary). But I'm realizing not everyone does that. For some, i think it's easy to say one thing to a person 10,000 miles away, but harder to follow up on it when they're right in front of you.

Though I was upset, I got over it, but that doesn't mean things are the same. While I still like my friend a lot, I am recognizing the limitations of that friendship, something I'll keep in mind the next time I come over.

And the next time, I'll let other people know I'm coming.

But at least I got to spend more time getting to know DanielHenry!

Labels: Blogging, Friends, Life, Travel

Even though I've been home nearly 2 weeks I still haven't wrapped up all my tales from my Asia trip. So, let me start with a little about Kuala Lumpur.

As I've noted before, I felt very, very welcome here. The guys (and gal) I have met are totally amazing, they are the friendliest people you will ever know, and they are doing a great job of being "out and proud" (or at least, living their lives with as much fun as possible). Even though I was working and my schedule was changing on a daily basis, folks were very flexible and scheduled their own lives around mine so we could spend time together. I am deeply in debt to David for showing me such a great time during the week, and I was so happy to see Eddie on the weekends -- and to have him go out with the KL boys, despite some shyness on his part -- that I can hardly express it. For these lovely gents to take so much time out of their schedules just to spend time with me was a wonderful gift.

It goes without saying that I was thrilled to see William and Cheryl and Jason and Alex during the week...adding quite a bit of time to their evening commute just to have dinner, or taking time away from work (which I know was a hardship :P) to meet for lunch, was very cool of them. Saturday night I got to see some KL nightlife, and see KL itself from the nearby hills, and more importantly, get to see Jason Jr and Paul and Alvin, and YAY for that!! That was a late night, followed by an early morning rush to the airport train, and it was lots of fun.

That night I also meet Froggy for the first time, after reading his blog and hearing about him from others for months...what a charmer he is! During the week I also met up briefly with Ash (and his brother, Aidan), whom I've known on Fridae for 3 years. Another friend, whom I didn't think I was going to get to meet, popped up at just the right time:



DanielHenry had dropped offline for a while and I thought we wouldn't be able to meet, but things change, and suddenly there he was. He'd been keeping a low profile because a big project had been taking his attention and he wanted to focus on it...out of respect for his privacy I didn't mention to anyone that he and I had met, but when he sent this photo this week I asked and he said it was OK to say something about it. Not only did I get to see him here, we also ran around Singapore together the following week while we were both there for work. So YAY for meeting DanielHenry!!

I went to a couple movies in KL, which doesn't seem like a big deal, but I found it interesting because of the differences between here and the US. The idea of reserved seating for a movie...cool! And of course, when I was a little kid and watching Get Smart reruns on TV, it never occurred to me I'd someday be watching Maxwell Smart with Chinese and Malay subtitles.

I've been asked if I'd want to live in KL, and the truth is, I don't know. My only experience there is as a visitor, and mostly as a tourist, and of course that's a lot different from living there every day. On the other hand, I know some really great people there, and that would make the experience wonderful. So that's an idea I'll keep in the back of my head for the future.

For now, though, I'll just pop in and say hello whenever I have the chance.

Labels: Friends, Movies, Travel

After a couple months of waiting, with some delays thank to the Dragon Boat race delay in May, Stan and I finally made it to New York for a weekend. He’d been here before, though not on a weekend, and hadn’t been here since January or so, so it was about time for both of us.

We took the bus up Friday night and I’m really thinking I’d be willing to pay more for the train. The train’s not perfect, of course, and does sometimes run late, but at least it’s a bit more reliable, and faster, plus you have more legroom and can get up and move around. Plus, the bathroom’s nicer.

Anyway, we had a hotel in the theater district and after getting there and freshening up and catching a bit of a Seinfeld episode (since we were in New York, that made it ironic, or something) we headed out to The Web (of course) to go dancing. Friday nights are usually very fun there and it was cool to see Stan's reaction to all the cuties, including one blond go-go dance he thought was fun to look at as well as the Latino go-go boy dancing while hanging upside down in a cage. Yeah, good times.

Saturday was a day for a little shopping, but we started with lunch at the Stardust Diner which, unbeknownst to us, had singing waiters. Also unbeknownst to us was the fact that our waitress was going to pull me up and into the act while she sang "I Can Hear the Bells" from Hairspray in the middle of the packed, 2-story restaurant. I went with it, and really got into it (dancing, reacting to her, dropping to one knee to "propose," kissing her on cue), and the crowd seemed to like it. Hey, Stan said I looked good, and I got some comments from others while leaving, so YAY, a new Broadway star is born.

We spent the afternoon doing a bit of shopping (at Uniqlo, of course, but also some other places) and we both picked up some cute pieces. Then we headed over to Christopher Street, which Stan had not seen before, and wandered past the sex shops until we reached the river (Stan also -- voluntarily -- went into a Starbucks). Then we headed back uptown to the hotel.

The evening started off with dinner at Sardi's, a Broadway classic. During the time earlier this year when Stan was between jobs he felt bad if I picked up the tab for things so I agreed that once he was working again he could take me somewhere nice and call it even. Well, Sardi's was that place, and we're definitely even. I had some wonderful crabcakes and he had curry chicken and for dessert we split a great mix of strawberries and meringue that was HUGE and which neither one could have finished alone.

Then we walked over to see Avenue Q. This was my third time -- the first in a couple years -- and the first time Stan had seen it. The show was fun as always and Stan really got into it. One thing that made it unique was that we sat on the center aisle in the second row...you could really see the details on the puppets, though it did take me longer to start ignoring the human puppeteers on stage. The show was a lot of fun and I'm really glad we went. Afterwards we went out, but not for very long, still being tired from Friday night...we were back to the hotel about 1:30. We started out at G Lounge, where we met up with a friend Stan hadn't seen since graduating from college, then we wandered back to Therapy, which was around the corner from the hotel. Of the two I think I preferred Therapy...more room, easier to talk, and a little less attitude. Just watch out for falling glassware!

Sunday we headed to Food Bar for brunch, only to discover its closed for renovation. At my suggestion we just got something at the place next door which was not so good...what we should have done was walk over to 7th Avenue, where there are tons of good restaurants and tons of cute people. But since I only ever go to Food Bar for Sunday brunch I didn't realize that. My bad.

Then we rolled up to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see the superhero exhibition ("Fantasy and Fashion"). It was a really interesting look at the meaning underlying different superheroes and their costumes (and all this time you thought they just looked good without realizing they MEAN something). I never thought of the Incredible Hulk as a demonstration of male potency or Batman's utility belt as a defense again insecurity and fragility, but I can see that now.

We headed back to Chelsea to get dessert at Cafeteria, which Stan remembers as a setting for a Sex and the City episode. I had a Waffle Banana Split, which was actually a banana split arrayed on a warm waffle. I guess the title was a good description. It was yummy, but there was no way I could finish that. How do people order something like that after a meal???

And now we're on the bus headed home. I expect to get back to the condo by 11:30 tonight, which means Monday will be a tired day at work. But I am very glad I went...Stan is a wonderful travel companion, we had so much fun exploring and were making notes for future visits. And I needed a bit of New York again. I do indeed like that city.

Labels: Friends, Travel

Wednesday may seem a little late to be posting about the weekend, but seeing as I'm already a week late on writing about my trip, what's a couple days here and there?

Anyway, I went to work Thursday (bad idea) and then spent Thursday night at home, resting up a bit and unpacking my suitcase, though not even starting the mountain of laundry that needed to get done. Bear in mind that after getting home from the Disney trip I was only here 36 hours before heading off to Asia, so there was Disney laundry plus pre-Disney laundry stacked up. Since Mickey Mouse wasn't here to do it for me I needed to tackle it myself, but Thursday night I was just a wee bit tired, so that didn't happen.

Friday the 4th I met up with Stan for lunch, then we headed into the District to the National Gallery of Art. I wouldn't normally go into DC on the 4th of July -- it's kind of a madhouse -- but we figured we'd be out well before the nighttime festivities, so no big deal. As it turns out there were plenty of tourists already heading into the city, but that's OK, we moved pretty quickly past them in their confused daze.

At the National Gallery we saw an exhibition from the National Museum of Afghanistan, featuring pieces from older cities there that were a few thousand years old. After seeing the mix of styles I realized how much that country had really been controlled by others throughout its entire history, giving me a better idea why everyone I met there looked so different and spoke different languages. And yes, the symbolism of this event was not lost on me...last 4th of July, of course, I was actually in Afghanistan, though I didn't see as much gold there as I saw in this exhibit.

Afterwards we headed back out to Virginia and went to see Wall-E, which was a cute little Pixar film that was a bit different from other movies they've done (not a whole lot of speaking, for instance). It was cute and had a charming little love story to it, but it took a little while for me to get into it.

We came back to my place to make dinner and wait for the fireworks show. From my balcony you can see the fireworks not only in the District on the National Mall (the big show that gets featured on TV) but also all the smaller shows in the towns around here. Unfortunately, there were clouds and lots of humidity this night, and that combined with the smoke from the show managed to obscure all the National Mall fireworks from view, at least from here. At least we could see the smaller shows around the area. Plus, the beer and bratwursts were good.

Saturday I took a tour of the White House in the morning (one of the people in my office does some part-time work there and was taking a family on a tour, and had an extra spot for me) and then came home to watch the Wimbledon women's final. Good match. Later in the evening, after a jet-lagged induced nap, I met up with Kevin at a restaurant in a kind of sketchy part of the District (Kevin revels in sketchy parts of town!). Stan met up with us and the three of us went to a club that features carnival sideshow acts...in this case, your basic geek (swallowing balloons, hammering a nail into his head, that sort of thing) and his burlesque-dancing wife. Interesting, fun, and a little bit different.

Still not sleeping so well I managed to sleep in until about 9am Sunday then got up to watch the Wimbledon men's final. After a few hours of rain delay, not to mention the longest (and best, in my opinion) final match in Wimbledon history, it was about 4pm. Hmmmmm. Adrian and i went to see Hancock, which frankly left me a little disappointed. Guess I expected something a little funnier, and the story took an odd twist that wasn't really resolved, in my most humble opinion.

Afterwards, when we got home, we got a bad phone call: Adrian's dad had been taken to the hospital with what looked like a second stroke. We raced over there only to find some confusions, and after a less-than-stellar performance by the hospital staff (and, in my opinion, Adrian's siblings) we finally found his dad. He didn't look to bad, and a CT scan showed no problems, but they were keeping him to run some more tests. As it turns out, he did have another stroke, so the family needs to keep a close eye on him from here on out. Here's the thing: we have the ability in this country to treat people who are at risk for a stroke (and he's now had two) and allow them to enjoy a good quality of life, but it takes a little bit of effort, and I personally think the family -- including his dad -- needs to put that little bit of effort into it. Just my 2 baht worth.

Monday I was back in the office (bleh) but after work Stan and I had dinner (and ice cream!) then went downtown to see a screening of a show about the US and China for the Discovery Channel. We felt very intellectual.

And now life is back to normal. Other than waking up at least once in the middle of the night every night, I'm getting back to normal. Oh, and I started running again Tuesday, YAY!

And the laundry is getting done.

Labels: Friends, Running, Work

I have SO much to write about this trip, and it will have to come out over the next week. For the moment, I'm on my way home...I left Hong Kong Wednesday afternoon, and I am now in Los Angeles where it is Wednesday afternoon again. There is a bomb threat here at the airport, a man outside Terminal 3 claims to have a bomb in his backpack and this has led to an evacuation there, but I am in Terminal 7 so all should be OK. Actually, I might have seen this guy earlier arguing with a policeman, and if it's the guy I think, then the cop who was talking to him just let him go, and now all this is happening. Though it could be a different guy. But I have a feeling...

This was a great trip. I needed it, for many reasons. And I need to get home, for one or two reasons.

Labels: Travel